An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Verizon “grossly overstated” its 4G LTE coverage in government filings, potentially preventing smaller carriers from obtaining funding needed to expand coverage in underserved rural areas, a trade group says. The Federal Communications Commission last year required Verizon and other carriers to file maps and data indicating their current 4G LTE coverage. The information will help the FCC determine where to distribute up to $4.5 billion in Mobility Fund money over the next 10 years. The funds are set aside for “primarily rural areas that lack unsubsidized 4G,” the FCC says. If Verizon provided the FCC with inaccurate data, the company’s rural competitors might not be able to get that government funding. “Verizon’s claimed 4G LTE coverage is grossly overstated,” the Rural Wireless Association (RWA), which represents rural carriers, told the FCC in a filing yesterday. “Verizon should not be allowed to abuse the FCC challenge process by filing a sham coverage map as a means of interfering with the ability of rural carriers to continue to receive universal service support in rural areas,” the RWA wrote. “RWA’s members are in the middle of the Challenge Process but are expending enormous time and financial resources in their efforts due to inaccurate data submitted by Verizon,” the group said. “RWA requests that the Commission investigate the 4G LTE coverage claimed by Verizon and require re-filing of Verizon’s data to correct its overstated coverage.”
According to the RWA, Verizon claims to cover almost all of the Oklahoma Panhandle, an area of 14,778.47 square kilometers, but estimates that the actual coverage area should be approximately 6,806.49 square kilometers. “[That’s] not even half of the LTE coverage area Verizon publicly claims to serve,” the RWA wrote.
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Source:: Slashdot